Ah, the beginning of fall. The
Oktoberfest is of course the infamous two-week German festival annually held in Munich, mostly known for the consumption of copious amounts of beer. Last Saturday marked the beginning of the official Oktoberfest. Out here in LA, celebrations are somewhat muted as compared to other American cities, owing to our relative lack of German heritage, but that certainly doesn’t mean that we can’t rock our lederhosen and get our beer stein on. Alpine Village in Torrance and Old World Village in Huntington Beach hold two of the more prominent festivals in the Southland.
I was in a mid-week mood to get in touch with my inner German, and since a trip across the Atlantic was out of the question for me, I went for the next best thing and popped over to Anaheim to hit up Jägerhaus, one of the few authentic German restaurants around.
From the outside, Jägerhaus looks like a total dumpy dive bar, with faulty lighted signs and a forgettable paint job. Similarly, the immediate observation upon walking into the restaurant is, “what is this décor?” Old floral wallpaper with shelves of beer mugs on the walls, green carpets, and wooden tables. Plus, German polka music softly playing in the overhead speakers. I gather the longtime owners Anton and Sandra Schwaiger sought to bring a homey feel to the place, but it was rather disorienting for me.
Fortunately, sitting down and taking a look at the menu chock full of traditional dishes helped bring some familiarity back. Jägerhaus serves ample numbers of breakfast items, featuring classic German-style pancakes and omelettes. However, it’s the completeness of the lunch and dinner menu that is most notable. There are eight types of schnitzel to choose from (including turkey), as well as multiple variations of goulash. Of course sausages are on the menu. More interesting are the different kinds of meat, including lamb shank, grilled deer, roast ham hock, and braised wild boar. Entrees are served with two sides, with a long list of options like traditional sauerkraut and potato salad to creamed spinach and baked beans.
I am partial to schnitzel, but instead of getting a traditionally prepared pan-fried dish, I opted for the Butter Schnitzel, a thinly-sliced cut of veal topped with sautéed mushrooms and onions. And by topped, it’s not just a few sliced mushrooms. It’s literally a mound of mushrooms; if I didn’t know any better, I would have just assumed it was a mushroom dish with a side of meat. True to its name, it was quite buttery. The veal cutlet was cooked really nicely, moist and juicy, and the absence of the breading as would be served in a Wiener Schnitzel reduced some of the heaviness. The flavor of the mushrooms, especially considering the sheer volume, did drown out a lot of the taste of the veal. Whether or not that’s a good thing, I suppose, depends on your flavor preference, it was fine for me.
The best part of my meal was the potato pancakes that I got on the side. Accompanied by a small serving of applesauce, the pancakes were amazingly light and fluffy. Rather than a hash-brown style pancake, the potatoes were minced into batter, and it seemed that a greater portion of egg was used than I’ve seen at other places, though the taste and texture of the potato was still evident. I felt that cooking it this way enhanced the use of the applesauce as a topping.In addition to the potato pancakes, I also got a side order of spätzle. The thick macaroni-like egg noodles were topped with gravy, and I think were the primary cause of my stomach filling up about halfway through the meal (though I plowed through like a champ). And what German meal would be complete without washing it down with a little brewski? Jägerhaus has several bottled German beers, as well as a few on draft – I went with the Hofbräu lager, which is lighter than I would normally drink, but given the denseness of my meal (or the wussiness of my stomach), was actually a perfect complement.
In the movie Office Space (one of the all-time greats), there’s a classic line by Stan the flair-centric manager who tells Jennifer Aniston’s character Joanna, “People can get a cheeseburger anywhere, OK? They come to Chotchkie’s for the atmosphere and the attitude.” And he goes on to rant more about flair. Jägerhaus is like that only completely opposite. People can’t get authentic German food anywhere in LA. So they come to Jägerhaus for a good meal, even though the atmosphere and attitude don’t bring back any such associations with Germany. That’s OK with me; I’ll just put on some Hasselhoff when I get home.
Jägerhaus
2525 Ball Rd.
Anaheim, CA 92806
The first thing you notice when you see the café is that there are two separate dining areas, a regular dining area on the blacktop and a specific “doggie dining area” (see photo above) on the lawn so that dogs can actually sit down and eat with their owners. What do you mean sit down and eat with their owners? I mean, Park Bench has a separate 
I was in a breakfasty mood, but needed a heavier meal, so I went for one of the specials, the behemoth Farm Breakfast. The dish is a mouthful just to describe, let alone eat, but it is essentially a skillet dish that consists of an egg scramble with onions, mushrooms, BACON, and cheddar and jack cheese. It’s served on top of a bed on sliced potatoes (which they term home fries, though they were marginally fried), and for the million-dollar twist, topped with sliced avocado. Although bad Ryan would have preferred hash-brown style potatoes for that extra layer of grease and a better contrast of textures with some additional crunch, good Ryan noted that I was getting all four food groups and several kinds of vegetables.
Park Bench Café has been run by a dog-loving husband and wife team, Mike and Christie Bartusick, for the last 19 years. When I was there, they were out casually small-talking with all of the guests, and most enjoyably for them, getting to know all of their canine customers. The restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays from Fall through late Spring.
Pathetic. Pitiful. Putrid.
The number of mistakes committed by the Bruins was staggering. Five turnovers, including some unbelievably bad interceptions by Olson that Pop Warner QBs wouldn’t even throw, led directly to 24 Utah points. Marcus Everett making the biggest offensive play of the game on a fly pattern down the sideline, then fumbling the ball through the end zone for a touchback when trying to stretch for the pylon, costing the Bruins their only scoring opportunity all afternoon. Four first quarter procedure or delay of game penalties that stymied the offense. Repeated breakdowns in the secondary allowing Utah receivers to literally walk into the end zone.
I would give a more thorough game recap, but it’s pretty simple. The Bruins sucked in every facet of the game. Except the kicking game – Kai Forbath, game ball! A 45-yard field goal and a 51-yard field goal means that hey, maybe we won’t miss Justin Medlock, recently cut by the Kansas City Chiefs. From the opening series in which Alterraun Verner got torched for a 55 yard touchdown, UCLA looked completely befuddled on both sides of the ball. The offensive line didn’t block, leading to a non-existent running game. The receivers didn’t get open, and when they did, Olson fired balls at their feet or over their heads. The defensive line not only didn’t pressure the quarterback but didn’t even stuff the run this week. The linebackers were totally ineffective, overpursuing and missing tackles. The secondary, in particular everyone not named Trey Brown, kept missing their coverage assignments. Even punter Aaron Perez refused to kick anything with more than about two seconds of hang time or longer than 30 yards. The coaching “adjustments” that were going to be made at halftime to overturn a 14-6 deficit? Try getting outscored 30-0 in the second half. And to add insult to injury (or is it injury to insult), the team’s top two linemen, Bruce Davis and Shannon Tevaga, both got hurt in the fourth quarter. Start to finish, atrocious in every conceivable way.
Ordinarily, I think it’s foolish to pull a Chicken Little and react so strongly to just one game. Unfortunately, this demoralizing scene from Salt Lake City has become too commonplace to just dismiss it as a fluke. Instead, it confirms the fear that this coaching staff simply doesn’t have what it takes to get the UCLA football program back to elite status. I said 
Before the season started, I had been joking about the state of the football program with one of my friends over IM. We were taking our shots at Dorrell while quietly holding out optimism for a good season. My friend made the ultimate insult of comparing Dorrell to loathed Bruin basketball coaching flameout Steve Lavin. While I don’t think that’s an entirely fair comparison, given how greasy and undedicated to the job Lavin was, the results have been eerily similar. Both guys had numerous embarrassing, unprecedented losses, led their teams to generally perform below expectations every year, yet somehow to did just enough to keep their jobs by surprisingly winning a couple of high profile games and having some cosmetic success (in Lavin’s case, his run of Sweet 16 appearances; in Dorrell’s case, the 2005 season and the USC win last year). But while they were allowed to keep their jobs, the programs that they ran were slowly getting run into the ground. And without a drastic move, the football program will continue to flounder.
Of course it wouldn’t have been a Peruvian dinner without a traditional drink. Since I still had a long drive home, a Pisco Sour was out of the question, but I did get myself a glass of chicha morada, the traditional corn-based drink. If you’ve never had it, it has the color of Manischewitz wine, but a thicker consistency closer to cough syrup (though not quite that thick). From that description, it doesn’t sound particularly appealing, but it tastes kind of like fruit punch, except if Kool-Aid used purple corn instead of artificial sweeteners. Trust me, it's yummy. It was a nice refreshing palate cleanser from the robust flavors of my entrée.
That breeze you felt on Saturday night wasn’t an early Santa Ana wind, but rather the collective sigh of relief of Bruin Nation after UCLA held on for a 27-17 victory over BYU. For those of you that weren’t at the Rose Bowl and didn’t have a chance to watch the game because you aren’t one of the 15 households that actually get Versus, you missed the Bruins sprinting out to a 20-0 lead, then nearly letting it slip away until a late fumble and touchdown drive put it out of reach. It was a game that featured a totally inept offensive performance by the Bruins, but was saved by some big plays by the defense and key mistakes by the Cougars.
Since school does not start until late September, home-openers are typically a little less energetic and crowded. Not so this week. More than 70,000 were in attendance at the Rose Bowl, with a large, vociferous contingent of BYU fans that jeered Olson every time he made mistake (which was often). But early on, it was the Bruin fans that were making the noise. A couple of long completions from Olson to Brandon Breazell and Marcus Everett resulted in the longest Bruin drive of the day of 60 yards, setting up a Kai Forbath (who recovered nicely from a shaky debut last week) field goal. Meanwhile, the defense was in full control, limiting the BYU offense to only six first downs in its first eight possessions. The Cougars ran a no-huddle shotgun offense, but appeared a little conservative in their early play-calling, running a lot of draws and misdirection handoffs to slow down the UCLA pass rush, but finding little success against the Bruins’ front seven. After Trey Brown jumped a slant pattern and took it back 56 yards for a pick six at the end of the first quarter, the Rose Bowl was rockin’.
For the second straight week, Bell looked like the superior runner to Chris Markey. While Markey is clearly the more shifty of the two backs, he seemed indecisive, dancing around behind the line of scrimmage waiting for a hole to open up. On the other hand, Bell was in fine downhill running form, making one cut and hitting the hole hard. Bell outgained Markey 79-50 in an equal number of carries, and it was puzzling as to why Karl Dorrell continued to rotate the backs later on in the game when it was clear that Bell was far more effective.
Although UCLA got the ball first in the second half, they soon punted it back to BYU. This became a familiar refrain. Through the first four drives of the second half, the Bruins only gained 32 total yards and only one first down. Olson was wildly inaccurate all game, missing receivers, and even when completing passes, putting the ball in places that couldn’t allow guys to run with the ball after the catch. Perhaps more disturbing was the fact that he rarely seemed to move off of his primary receiver, and forced balls to guys that were covered. While this year’s passing game appears to require fewer reads, Olson’s decision making still seems slow and faulty a lot of the time. Olson completed virtually nothing downfield, which allowed BYU to bring its safeties up and challenge the run. However, he did make the throws when it counted in the fourth quarter.
Defensively, Walker must find a way to get more backfield penetration to slow down the opponents’ passing game. While his front seven has been stout against the run, giving up only 48 yards a game, the team has been highly susceptible to the short-passing attack. The defense created some huge turnovers, resulting in ten points, but also couldn’t get off the field in the second half, giving up multiple third-and-long conversions. Although Utah should be an easier matchup with the Utes’ starting quarterback and running back injured, some difficult conference games await in the following weeks in which an up-and-down performance will not be good enough to win.
The ambience is also an infusion of traditional barbecue and California sensibility. The restaurant itself is a converted house set off from the street, so it is barely noticeable when driving by. It’s got a white picket fence which gates the front yard, with a little playground for kids to run around in. The inside of Beach Pit does have wood floors, but only a few tables – the majority of the seating is actually located outside on the front porch in the form of faux benches, along with a little fire pit that customers can cozy up to in lounge chairs while sipping on their merlot.
Good barbecue is as dependent on the quality of sauce as it is the cuts of the meat and the preparation methodology. Beach Pit serves two different sauces, a mild and a spicy. I strongly preferred the mild sauce, which is of medium thickness, slightly sweet – perhaps closest to St. Louis-style (although my BBQ sauce knowledge is admittedly a bit lacking). The spicy sauce was not all that spicy (one of the staffers referred to it as “Newport Beach” spicy), but it was considerably thinner and much heavier on the vinegar, and far less sweet (perhaps Carolina-style). I thought the mild sauce went best with the pork, while the spicy sauce most complemented the beef.
As far as the other sides were concerned, the baked beans were quite good, using a mixture of kidney beans, pinto beans, and navy beans, in a sweeter sauce than either of the barbecue sauces served with the meat. The blueberry cornbread was light and a bit crumbly, but the sweetness of the blueberries was very subtle and a nice palate cleanser from the spicy sauce.
Since it’s already Tuesday and UCLA’s 45-17 victory over lowly Stanford feels like an eternity ago, we won’t give you any game recap of what was an encouraging, but ultimately difficult to gauge performance. Instead, we’ll stick to observations about the team’s first action and what it means for the next few weeks.
One of the things Norvell sought to change with this year’s offense was to get the ball outside to the wide receivers. Running back Chris Markey led the team in receptions a year ago, and the Bruin passing game was generally station-to-station; very few yards after catch, and very few opportunities for the primary playmakers to make plays in the open field. In Saturday’s game, the Bruins ran several slip screens and bubble screens which not only got the ball to receivers on the move, but also neutralized some of the aggressive Stanford pass rush. It was slip screens that produced Joe Cowan’s 78-yard touchdown catch and run, as well as Brandon Breazell’s 15-yard touchdown. The Bruins also used fade routes with frequent success, allowing their taller receivers to make a play on the ball against Stanford’s smaller cornerbacks. It was refreshing to see Bruin wideouts with eleven catches and backs with only two. Hopefully, Norvell will open up the offense even more in the coming weeks.
If the offense was a pleasant surprise, the defense was a bit of a disappointment. With Stanford bringing in an entirely new coaching staff, led by Jim Harbaugh, the defense was at a disadvantage with little game film to study. Nevertheless, giving up 331 passing yards to an offense that barely averaged ten points a game last year did not live up to expectations. In particular, it was three big plays that accounted for close to half of those yards, one on a blown coverage by Alterraun Verner that resulted in a 70-yard stop and go touchdown reception, and two on poor tackling on underneath routes that led to long gains. Certainly, this will be an area of focus during practice this week.